Germany’s Painful Unemployment Fix

As the U.S. and much of Europe struggle to bring down unemployment rates, one country stands apart: Germany, where the unemployment rate is just 6.2 percent. In 2002, Germany looked a lot like the United States does today: it had no economic growth, and its unemployment rate was 8.7 percent and climbing. Gerhard Schroeder, the German chancellor at the time, made an emergency call to Dr. Peter Hartz, who had gained a high profile as human resources director at Volkswagen. In 2002, Hartz convinced unions to make concessions to save jobs. Read more at NPR.org